I am a senior editor at Forbes and focus mainly on the business of sports and our annual franchise valuations. I also spend a lot of my time digging into what athletes earn on and off the field of play. I've profiled a bunch of athletes that go by one name: LeBron, Shaq, Danica and others. I also head up our biennial B-School rankings, our list of America's Best Small Companies and our annual features on the Best Places for Business (metros, states and countries). I joined Forbes in 1998 after working 3 years at Financial World magazine.

Boxer Manny Pacquiao lost to Timothy Bradley Saturday night in a shocking split decision, where most observers had Pacquiao winning the bout handily. HBO’s unofficial judge, Harold Lederman, scored it 119-109 for Pacquiao, awarding Bradley one round in the 12-round fight.

Promoter Bob Arum, who controls both fighters, was apocalyptic after the fight: “Something like this is so outlandish, it’s a death knell for the sport. This is f—— nuts. I have both guys, and I’ll make a lot of money in the rematch, but it’s ridiculous. You have these old f—- who don’t know what the hell they’re looking at. It’s incompetence. Nobody who knows anything about boxing could have Bradley ahead in the fight.”

The loss ends Pacquiao’s seven-year, 15 fight winning streak and severely damages the potential for a mega-bout between Pacquaio and Floyd Mayweather. The two undisputed best pound-for-pound fighters have been sparring in recent years over drug testing, purse split and seemingly every other issue regarding a potential fight that the entire boxing world wants to see.

The economics would be staggering for this fight. The biggest pay-per-view audience in boxing history was for the 2005 fight between Mayweather and Oscar De la Hoya that generated 2.4 million buys. A Mayweather-Pacquiao bout would likely attract at least 3 million PPV buys and as much as $250 million if you also include ticket receipts. It is seemingly plenty of money to satisfy both boxers and their camps, but no agreement could be reached.

Mayweather acts as the promoter for his bouts through his company, Mayweather Promotions. Mayweather thinks he deserves a much bigger share of the pot, while Pacquiao’s camp thinks a 50-50 split is more equitable. Pacquiao’s loss gives Mayweather even more leverage in any contract negotiations.

Pacquiao’s loss, even if many felt he won, definitely takes some of the air out of any future fight with Mayweather. It also pushes back the timetable, as Pacquiao is almost sure to have a rematch with Bradley in November (Arum having both fighters in his stable makes a rematch inevitable).

A bigger problem for a potential fight is Father Time (Mayweather’s current jail stint is a non-factor as he’ll be out in August). Mayweather is 35 years old and Pacquiao will be 34 in December. Both fighters are much closer to the end than the beginning and have hinted strongly about retiring soon.

Mayweather said shortly after his May Cotto bout that he was leaning “80-20″ towards retirement, although last month Mayweather’s business adviser Leonard Ellerbe assured me Floyd isn’t going anywhere: “A fighter is liable to say anything 15 minutes after getting out of the ring. Floyd will be back fighting.”

Pacquiao has a thriving political career in the Philippines. Arum has said regularly that Pacquiao would retire in 2013 to run for governor of his province in the Philippines.

Pacquiao and Mayweather will continue to be paid handsomely as long as they are in the fight game. Pacquiao made at least $26 million for the Bradley fight and the only athlete on the planet that made more over the past 12-month is Mayweather, who netted a combined $85 million for his past two bouts.

A Pacquiao-Mayweather fight might never happen at this point. That might be better than watching these two great champions do battle as broken-down fighters in their late 30s.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

If there is ever a time to clean up a sport this would be it. Judge Duane Ford and CJ Ross need to be held accountable for destroying what could have been an epic match up between Mayweather and Pacquiao. I’m actually a Bradley fan and don’t want to see him win like this. who want’s to be a paper champion?

Keith: Great plan. Unfortunately, the 2 sides are much further apart. Mayweather’s last offer was $40 mil for Pac-Man and the rest for Mayweather, which might have been $100+ million. A lot of egos in these negotiations.

I stopped watching boxing looong ago due to exactly this kind of thing.

That being said, there is a ton of money to be made in a Pacquiao/Bradley rematch (which WILL happen, and which Pacquiao WILL win), and that will set up nicely for the highly anticipated match-up with Mayweather.

The whole thing smells, but you can definitely count on a rematch as Bob Arum controls both fighters. Pacquiao/Bradley will do big business. Still not sure Mayweather and Pacquiao can put aside their differences and egos on splitting the purse to make a fight between them work.

I totally agree with Teddy Atlas when he said, “It’s a big injustice to the sports of boxing and the boxers”. Furthermore, we suggest the need for the World Boxing organizations to act together and reverse the decision to save the sports of boxing from the brink of degradation.